Hei
by heiye
Summary: One kickass girl. One badass vampire. One hell of a love ride. RR! [ON HIATUS]
1. Hei

CHAPTER ONE

Darkness was freedom.

And she took a deep breath of it.

A new city- after the she had caused a storm in the last, she decided it was time to move on. She had every vampire, lamia or made, after her. And no, she wasn't scared of leeches. She would flick them off with her little finger, then smile at the pathetic expression on their faces as she stamped on their bloated bodies- she could almost hear the last, satisfying crunch.

But she was a sympathetic girl, really. But sympathizing with a leech? Cuddling up to a blood sucking earthworm? She didn't think so. Calm, collected, poised, if not cold- these very words defined who she was. Her every move was planned out, her path was clear as crystal.

She had heard the rumors which had so stirred up her world- no, their world.

The Soulmate Principal.

It declared that there was one person you were destined for, one person to go googly eyed at, one person who would be able to _ruin_ you. And when you met that person, you would know. Personally, she thought of that absurd theory in the same way she thought about vampires.

And it must be said that she didn't think very highly of vampires.

But anyway, it seemed that recently, humans appeared to be getting Night World soulmates; the vampires in the Redfern family were especially prone to this- disease. She wrinkled her nose distastefully, in a manner that was not at all suited to her current position. Well, if she had a soulmate, and he was a vampire- she would kill him, she thought matter-of-factly.

So ironically, her mission was to find her soulmate.

But even if he wasn't a vampire, she would kill him. She was a hunter- and hunters couldn't afford to have burdens. Especially as death was practically behind her.

Hei fingered the hilt of her sword, a thin elegant piece of wood, short enough to be concealed at her waist, but sharp enough to pierce flesh, or rather, melt through it. If that flesh was viable to wood.

She snapped her sword from its sheath and spun, her body a graceful arch, long limbs in a practiced move not definable by eye. A black blur of sheer darkness.

And her sword sliced through flesh like a knife through butter.

And through this practiced, slightly monotonous action, she thought with a rather dark sense of humor- death, behind her. Well, the vampire wasn't really alive in the first place. If it weren't that they were so rosy cheeked and round tummied from human blood, they would be shriveling half woken zombies. But worse than zombies- they would be able to think. And choke in their own stench.

She sighed, yes, death was behind her.

But she never mentioned who did the killing.

Another wry smile as she brushed her sword on her pants, then slipped it back into its sheath with a leathery whisper.

Hei was Chinese for darkness.

But no one ever said darkness couldn't have a sense of humor.

She headed down the hill, her breath barely altered after her little "run-in".

First she had to find the local slayer clan.

The sky was streaked gold and orange with the fading sun, and her shadow stretched long behind her as she glanced up at the sign.

As she pushed open the door, two piercing blue eyes reflected her own amber ones.

She smiled.

Coldly.

The blue eyes narrowed as they took in the lithe figure, but the piercing gaze remained frozen at her waist.

"You-"

She didn't wait for the old woman to continue.

"The night is mine..."

"And yours to enjoy."

The old lady hobbled from behind the bench, her surprisingly strong hands gripping her wrist. Hei forced back the natural instinct to send whoever touched her flying to the other side of the room, and looked into crisp blue eyes. Slightly questioning.

"Are you-"

Hei cut in again. "I am a simple hunter. All I need is information. You tell me, and I'll do it."

The old woman, with a strange air of dignity, replied, "There isn't much here, and not much I can give you." Her clear eyes turned to the cabinet. "We don't give out missions that kill our members, especially new ones." She looked at her with emphasis.

Hei returned the grip on her wrist, deftly changing her hand into a position where she wielded the control.

She leaned in closer to those piercing blue eyes. "You are smart. You must know by now."

She paused as the blue eyes widened.

"You're-"

"I'm not afraid of the dark."

Hei let go, her hand dropping to her side. Shaking her head, the old woman hobbled back to the bench, and turned slowly to the cabinet. With trembling fingers, she pulled out a file.

"Are you sure?" her blue eyes wavered then refocused on the young girl in front of her.

"This file was left for me...was it not? I'm always sure." She spoke quietly, with cold authority.

The lady sighed, and half mumbled to herself, "Be safe."

And perhaps, as an afterthought, "We can't afford to lose any more."

**_Please review if you want another chapter! I will be eternally grateful._**


	2. Vermin

_Hey guys, thank you for the reviews, I will continue to write the best I can, although sometimes it may take a while because I have many things to do! Keep reading and reviewing! Your kind words give me the encouragement I need to continue. Enjoy!_

**CHAPTER TWO**

Hei stepped out onto the street- night had settled. The team back in New York had already set up an apartment for her, and that was where she was headed.

She gripped the folder, her knuckles glaring white in the near darkness.

Ever since Hunter Redfern, one of the most prominent members of the infamous Redfern family, had disappeared, the council had been wondering why the vampire world wasn't in chaos.

All they knew was that there was definitely something, or someone, holding them together, and that person was at least as powerful as Hunter.

Perhaps even more powerful.

This was someone smart enough to remain in the shadows, for it was alarmingly true, that no one in either the darker circles or the renowned Circle Daybreak knew their identity, not even whether they were male...or female. The only thing the council knew was that this someone had a brilliant mind, and planned strategically and with the utmost attention to every last detail of their attacks, and thus** always** managed to slip out of the useless- wait should she not say that about the group of which she was a... member? She smiled at the use of the word, but could think of nothing more appropriate to replace it at the present time. No, they had only informed her of this- situation shall we call it- recently; they knew those feeble eyes and ears which they had oh so carefully laid out were nothing compared to her. They would never grovel at her feet for help until the very last second, in fact, knowing the stubbornness and idiotic pride which the council held to themselves, in the millisecond in which when the opposition would prepare to announce 'Checkmate'. In those cases, she just killed the opposition. In fact, as she now pondered over it, she had never had an opposition. Her steps quickened, though always, with the casual walk of an unsuspecting girl, not the graceful stalk of a hunting cat. For she was hunting.

She was always hunting.

Of course, the council's wishes should take priority, however- she grinned in the near darkness- she would make them wait. Hei was never one for priority. Did darkness ever have a priority? Oh yes, right, its priority was to take over the day.

Step, snap. Hei stepped on a twig. Her every move was in accordance to her walk- the innocent girl.

She was a planner herself. And she always got what she wanted. And boy, if that was what this mysterious force, person, vampire, witch, shapeshifter... she ran through the possibilities, was used to- bad luck. By this time, she already had more clue to this 'someone' than the council did.

It had to be a vampire.

Even though the possibilities of another species to run their own would be a smarter thing to do- yes, she called them species- they would never listen. And even if they did, there would always be the slight muffled outbreaks from tight control... unless this was someone they all respected. Or more likely, conformed to. Obeyed. Dogma.

Feared.

Snap, plunge, jump back.

She was lucky today, another witless vampire so easily lured by her naïve looks- perhaps he hadn't noticed her eyes were iridescent at the present moment? They had always scared people off; she had soon realized whenever she was hunting her normally level amber eyes would turn a euphoric iridescent colour. If iridescence could be termed as colour.

She was human, but her eyes were that of a huntress. They scared people, and dumb people were always liable to be frightened by something which was not a part of a norm. Or rather, **their** norm.

Hei slipped the sword back under her long coat, her other hand still tightly clasping her folder. This was one thing she wasn't going to lose. It contained her weakness.

Only the strong admitted to having a weakness.

Because only the strong learn to obliterate their own weakness.

Vampires had once been her weakness...

Now, she was theirs.

She smiled at the irony of this. You might have noticed by now that Hei always smiled. Maybe that was because she never cried... well, okay, she had cried before, I mean, everyone cries right? It ashamed her to look back and see that just yesterday when she had actually been too immersed in her own thoughts of escape she had walked into a tree. Just like that. Trust me, when someone like Hei walks, she walks fast, and of course, it hurt. Rather like walking into a brick wall. But at that time, tears had sprung if only for a second to light her amber eyes, but of course she managed to preserve what was left of her rather tattered dignity and picked herself up without so much as a tear dropping to the ground. Thank god she was alone... her reputation would be ruined.

As she walked now, the sky was turning a rich velvety dark, and the wide streets turned into haunted alleys.

She reached for the key to her apartment. It was another one of those darkened alleyways she had gotten so sick of during her first years as a slayer. The familiar graffitied walls brought back memories. If "walls" were what they could be called. She took one moment to look appreciatively over these "walls" and concluded that they looked more like a dilapidated pile of rocks. It worried her how these rocks looked like they were about to fall down. Of course, knowing her luck they would fall down at this very moment and crush her to death. She narrowed her eyes and aimed a death glare at the pile of bricks which had somehow irked her. She was only human you know. If thirty thousand bricks came crashing down on her, she would be squashed. Quite like the many bugs she herself had in turn squashed, but of course she was sure her eyes wouldn't bulge out like those of mosquitoes or flies. In fact, if it did happen, she highly doubted she would even** have** eyes. Naturally, she admitted to that, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

And with that last bright, rather charming thought, if she did say so herself, Hei walked into the apartment.

It was a long time since she had lived in an apartment like this. But she would never forget the last. Some things were hard to forget.

And some faces- she would never forget.

**flashback**

"Mommy?"

"Yes dear?"

"Why can't I have pretty clothes and a daddy like all the other girls?"

Her mother smoothed her hair back from her face, and lifted her onto her knee. She realized her mother was trembling and her eyes grew wide and iridescent. Her mother put a cool hand to the girl's warm cheek, and said, "because you are not like all the other girls."

The child looked up, and with all the earnest passion of her young years exclaimed, "But I want to be like all the other girls!"

She felt wetness against her own cheeks- hers, or her mother's?

When we are young, we are selfish.

When we are old, we regret.

Her mother rocked her in her arms.

"Mommy?"

"Yes dear?" her mother whispered, her normally clear voice hoarse.

"Why aren't the lights on?"

Her mother didn't reply.

And the girl knew. She knew there were other people in the room with her, with her mommy and she knew she knew that her mommy would never reply. Because now she could feel the comforting warmth on her face was not tears but had the unmistakable coppery tang of blood. She had never screamed before.

Her mother had always said to her, "Darling, what would you do if one day... mommy wasn't here anymore?" and she had always replied, "Mommy will always be here right?" and her mother, with an aching smile would nod and brush her hair back from her face. Her hair was always too long, but her mother loved it.

But today she finally realized the answer to that question.

"If mommy isn't there anymore..." she whispered amongst the red veil she now saw the world in, "if mommy isn't there..."

She looked around and saw the most vicious eyes she had ever seen. There were two sets of yellow eyes and perhaps in another time she would have thought they were pretty. She had never screamed before. The girl remained silent, and listened.

"Daddy," the young vampire looked up to the darker, taller shadow beside him, "do I have to drink the girls blood too? They are vermin! I don't want to drink the blood of vermin! Yuck!"

And still, the girl remained silent. Vermin? All she knew was that her mommy was dead and they were going to kill her as well.

"If mommy isn't there..."

She ran, she ran from the yellow eyes, she ran from the room, she ran from her mother, and perhaps, she ran from herself and the answers she was facing.

"If mommy isn't there I will run and when I grow up to be big and strong I will kill whoever took my mommy away!" She screamed like she had never screamed before and ran as fast as her legs could carry her, clasping onto the first person she saw and holding on for dear life, not letting go until she was...in the end...sitting in their house.

She then realized how lucky she was, because that person wasn't a person, well her young mind couldn't handle such thoughts, it was a person, but it was also a witch! And she said she would help her and protect her. She said that all those horror stories she heard was true she said vampires were bad, everyone was bad she said there were monsters and werewolves...

And all the girl asked was

"What is vermin?"

**end flashback**


End file.
